Tarot Reading - Artemis

For this reading, I used the Abstract Futures Tarot by Hilma's Ghost (a feminist art collective, with artwork by Sharmistha Ray and Dannielle Tegeder). I was gifted this beautiful deck by my friend (and incredible artist), Megan Cotts. I love it so so so so much.

Artemis asks:

I'm hitting a major milestone birthday this year and my goal is to finally, as a grown-ass grown up, prioritize protecting my peace. To adhere to my boundaries, to stop giving grace to people who don't deserve it, and to stop giving energy to situations beyond my control. I need to follow through with this goal for the sake of my overall health and to reignite my creativity, BUT, we're only a month into the horror show that is 2025, and I already feel buried by everything I'm trying to shed. I would love any guidance to get me back on track. Thank you.

Card 1 - Current Situation - Six of Swords

The six of swords is a card about difficult transitions, a journey of transformation, metamorphosis, hard fought change. Your birthday approaches and with it, you are doing the necessary (but difficult) work of examining your past and present, and looking toward your future. Your transformation is already underway. As you mentioned in your question, you know what you need to do: prioritize your peace, set firmer boundaries and enforce them, focus your attention and energy on the people and projects that fill your cup. You are learning to let go of what you cannot control, which is never easy, especially when the whole world feels chaotic and terrifying.

In the Rider Waite Colman Smith deck, the six of swords depicts three figures on a boat – one passenger is an adult (I always see her as a woman, though there is no reason that has to be the case), the other passenger is a child, and the third figure is the boat man (these three could be a family, or the man could just be ferrying them, I'm curious what you think when you see this card). The journey they are on is arduous and I read it with a sense of urgency, danger, and secrecy: it always feels to me like they are fleeing from a war torn land. They are headed toward a place they've never been to, but one they hope will bring safety, peace, and happiness. The Six of Swords is about strength through adversity, a reminder that where you have been, as difficult as it has been at times, was necessary to get you to where you are going. This is the moment before you reach the shore, where your optimism rubs up against the hard things you've been through, where the future is still unknown.

You are on a journey of transformation, out of darkness and into light. Metaphorically speaking, this card asserts that you are indeed changing. No doubt conflict will arise as you set boundaries you previously were unable to set, or make choices that seem out of character to someone who knows only a previous version of you, but the six of swords assures you that these hardships will absolutely be worth it. Where you are headed is brighter than where you have been. Trust that the journey – long, arduous, or tumultuous – is taking you to a place of safety, prosperity, and peace.

Card 2 - Challenge - Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune reminds you that life is cyclical, that history repeats itself, and sometimes progress takes a few steps forward and then a few gigantic steps back. The Wheel of Fortune is chance, and like all games of chance, sometimes we're up and sometimes we're down. That doesn't mean that we don't have free will, of course, but it does mean that there are forces beyond our control. We don't always get to choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we react. This card reminds you that pain and suffering ends, and that what goes up must come down and vice versa. You will come out of the other side of whatever pain this journey causes you, because the wheel continues to turn. It's always darkest just before the dawn.

Your challenge is adapting to change, getting comfortable with the idea that life is a series of transformations. Birthdays provide a really clear symbolic page turn, and I think it's smart to approach this next birthday as an opportunity. The past is an indicator, but it does not have to be a binding precedent. Who you were yesterday and ten years ago is not who you are today, and certainly is not who you'll be tomorrow. Approach change, even when it is uncomfortable, as an opportunity for growth. Resistance to change is futile: wishing that it will stay summer forever does not mean fall isn't inevitable. When things knock us down (especially when those things take the form of something we already believed we had slayed), it can be disheartening and cause you to lose hope. Remind yourself that the wheel keeps turning. Every cycle has a natural end. This too shall pass.

Source/Spirit/The Tarot/God/Your Highest Self or whatever else you want to call it reminds you to get curious about the possibilities that await you. Each day is a new opportunity. You've mentioned the boundaries you'd like to draw, but it's important to build in some pleasure too. There may be some people who fall away because they do not fit into your new life or they cannot accept the way you are changing. You can grieve or welcome those losses (and whatever you feel is acceptable!), but either way, they make room for new adventures. What does the you who has set these boundaries want to do with her time? Does she have things she wants to learn? Places she wants to see? Free from obligations that do not serve you, what can you make time for that brings you joy?

Card 3 - Need to Focus On - Page of Cups

The Page of Cups is a young person, bursting with emotion, vitality, and creativity, longing for connection, a font of joy. Often this person is a little girl (though the Page of Cups doesn't have to be). I think this Page is a stand-in for two people – one of them is your daughter (wow, I'm so intuitive I psychically received a download from Spirit that you have a daughter!*) and the other is you.

*Artemis is an alias, and I know that the querent has a daughter.

So let's talk first about your daughter. "Focus on your daughter" is a weird thing for the Tarot to say – finger-wagging and JD Vance-esque if you ask me – so let me explain. The Tarot isn't telling you to pour all of your time and energy into caregiving. In this case, focus is about where you place your intentions. Your daughter is at a critical moment in her development in a pretty scary time. She is a source of joy for you, and a way to view the future with optimism, because you must.

When I say optimism, I don't mean denial. Things are very bad and it feels like they are getting worse. But your energy and your intentions should be focused on creating an environment where your daughter and her creativity can grow. You have the capacity to give her that, even if there are other things that have to fall away in order for you to maintain that capacity. If you are saying yes to things you wish you could say no to, you are cutting off your capacity for optimism. If you are letting people violate your boundaries, you are letting them grind down your capacity for beauty and joy. If you run yourself ragged or spend too much time doom-scrolling, you'll miss out on the beauty and joy right in front of your eyes. The page reminds you that even a beginner or a child has a lot to teach us, and protecting your peace is not just a nice-to-have, it's essential to your survival.

Now, let's talk about the Page of Cups as you. In the process of becoming your future self, there's one important person you need to remember and protect – the child at the center of you. Your child self, your page of cups, is brimming with creativity and life force, and you would be wise to let her guide you. A lot of the boundaries you are trying to create for yourself are about protecting her. Your child self wants friendships that fill her up. She wants kindness and rest. You wouldn't tell a child who was hungry or exhausted to keep pushing through. You'd tell them to take a nap! Or you'd make them a snack! So take a nap and eat a snack. Care for yourself as you would a child. I have found that it's helpful to talk to her in moments of stress and anxiety. If I have to do something I don't want to do, I'll sometimes say OUT LOUD TO MYSELF: "It's okay, Eli, I know you don't want to do this, so here's what we're gonna do: we'll get this done, and then I'll make sure you have some rest and a little fun." Does it feel silly to talk to yourself? Sure it does, but you get used to it. I highly recommend it.

Also, if you're a people pleaser, treating your inner child as a separate entity that you have been entrusted with, will make setting those boundaries easier. It's hard to set the boundary for yourself, but you'd do anything for your daughter. You should take that same hard line approach about your inner child.

It's easy to punish ourselves in a capitalist society that is obsessed with output. But when you consider your inner child self, and treat her like you would your own child, it's a lot easier to practice compassion and self love. You wouldn't yell at or berate a child for needing rest. You'd get her a blanket and sing her a song. So do that.

Card 4 - Your Past/Leaving - Eight of Wands

The Eight of Wands is a frantic, energetic card. It's a creative card, a card of expansion and accomplishment, but it's also manic and flying a little too close to the sun. The Eight of Wands is stress. It's that feeling of wings beating a million miles a minute in the center of your chest. Sometimes we like that feeling, don't we? That feeling that we are busy or important, that even when things are tough or stressful, we're still productive, on top of everything. Of course we like that feeling, it's a way to remind ourselves that we are worthy in a culture that puts a lot of value in hustling, and very little value in rest.

You are moving away from hustle, from endless obligations, from saying yes to things that deplete you, from people who do not reciprocate your care for them. The Eight of Wands is an addictive feeling, okay? Sometimes it feels bad, but a lot of times, it actually feels pretty good while it's happening. It's what comes next that is so devastating – stress, illness, burn out, exhaustion. It's time to let those things go. You are not your output. Your value is inherent. You do not need to prove yourself to anyone, and a milestone birthday is a perfect time to remind yourself of that and set that important goal as your focus and intention.

Birthdays are a great time to reflect on what you are most grateful for and what you'd like to draw closer to you in the future. This spread seems keen on reminding you that it is creativity, emotions, love, and relationships that are valuable to you, and that hustle, achievement, and status are all illusions designed to distract you from your truest purpose. Think back to the smallest version of you. What does she need, what does she want? Let her guide you. She's small but mighty.

Card 5 - Strengths - The Devil

The Devil is your strength! Fuck yes. The Devil can seem like a scary card at first, and in certain contexts, it can represent toxicity or negativity. In this case though, The Devil is about pleasure. You know what you want, what feels good, what and who make you happy. Lean into those things. Sometimes we deny ourselves pleasure for the simple reason that we believe on some level that life is supposed to be hard. That's a lie. Look, life is hard, but it's not supposed to be. There is a lot that is wrong with this world, a lot of suffering and hardship, but that's not because it's supposed to be that way. In fact, I'd argue that it's very much not supposed to be that way, that we've created living conditions that inflict pain on us because we are living in defiance of the way things are supposed to be.

Food tastes good because our taste buds were designed to notice flavors and enjoy them. Orgasms happen (or certainly should) in non-reproductive sex too, okay? Our bodies know what they like, and our minds are being hacked into believing that we're supposed to deny ourselves the things we like. Fuck that.

The Devil says lean in, have a little fun, experience some pleasure, get wild, try new things. Go out in search of joy and don't stop until you've found it. There is plenty of shit to be upset about, an awful lot of horror to enrage you and make you feel hopeless. The Devil isn't here to tell you that you should ignore the horrors of the world, only that you don't have to deny yourself joy because the world is suffering. Pleasure reminds us of our humanity and our mortality. Our bodies age, and eventually they die. But in the meantime, we are here, together, and we are designed to enjoy it. Don't be afraid to do that.

The Devil also provides a valuable warning. Do not let yourself be taken in by negativity (and I think in this case, a lot of that negativity is coming from the INTERNET). Doom-scrolling is enticing, it creates the illusion of productivity (you're reading about current events, the Devil whispers), but scrolling through hundreds of horror stories and hot takes is deeply unproductive and really fucking damaging to your spirit. We were not designed to take in every single horrible thing that is happening in the world all the time. We were also not designed to interact with each other via screen. Stay informed through trusted news sources and then throw your phone into a lake. Get outside. Listen to music. Have sex. Eat something delicious. Dance. The Devil reminds you that a lot of the pleasure available to us lives in the body. Meditate. Stay grounded. And rest so your body can experience the pleasure it was created for.

Card 6 - Near Future - The World

The World is a card of celebration and completion – like... a milestone birthday. This card is the end of one cycle, and it will usher in the energy of The Fool (beginner's mind) and an entirely new cycle will begin. It's time to celebrate your wins, to bask in the adoration of the people who love you, to have a big party and let yourself have fun. It's okay to have parties in the apocalypse, I promise. We actually need to celebrate each other now more than ever.

When The World shows up, it's important to take stock, to celebrate your accomplishments, practice gratitude, and lean into joy. What comes next is unwritten, and it will be a brand new adventure. Approach the days and years after your birthday as an exploration of something new. As your birthday approaches, practice the intentions you've set until they become a habit. Sometimes there are growing pains when things change – you may have to teach people in your life what your new boundaries are. That's okay. Remind yourself that as long as you approach others with kindness, what they think of you is none of your business. If you start now, you'll be well on your way to your next adventure when your birthday rolls around. New opportunities, creative and otherwise, are on your horizon. The knowledge and experience you've built over your life will come in handy for what lies ahead, but it's also wise to approach new opportunities with a clean state – when we allow ourselves the optimism and openness of a beginner's mind, we leave ourselves plenty of room to grow.

Card 7 - Advice - Seven of Pentacles

The Seven of Pentacles is a card about trying new things, sowing seeds, and pushing through the fear of failure that comes with new experiences. Sometimes you plant a seed and what grows is completely different than what you expected. Is that a failure? I would argue that it isn't. But you have to be open to seeing things that way. If you plant a seed in the ground thinking that a lemon tree will grow, and you water it and give it sunlight and eventually the tree grows and begins to fruit but the fruits are oranges... how do you respond? You were trying to grow lemons. Do you berate yourself for being an idiot? For failing? For not getting it right? Or do you make the most delicious orange juice you've ever tasted. Not for nothing, but I'd take oranges over lemons any day.

Try new things and don't be afraid to fail. When something doesn't go exactly as you planned, or things are harder than you wished they were, try to look for the opportunity in the unexpected. What you sow may not be what you harvest. But what if it's better?

Card 8 - Environment - King of Swords

The King of Swords is a master communicator, precise and direct. He's a planner, a forever student, dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and truth. He knows when to ask for help or seek out others' expertise. This card indicates success through planning. This card could be someone in your orbit, a scientifically-minded partner for example.

The King of Swords is a curious and smart person (often a man) who enjoys debating, learning, and conversation. The King of Swords is an expert in his field – perhaps a doctor, for example, you mentioned your health in your question. The King of Swords suggests that your health is in great hands, with capable and adaptable experts who know what they are doing and have an effective strategy for tackling tough problems.

This card could also be a reminder that change sometimes takes planning. Maybe you will need some help setting boundaries in the beginning. Maybe it's helpful for you to schedule chunks of time for what you'd like to do? It's perfectly acceptable to block off an entire day in your calendar for pleasure, and when someone asks you to make a plan that day you say, "Oh I'm busy actually." You are busy, you made a plan to experience pleasure. That's important work.

Card 9 - Hopes and Fears - Page of Wands

The Page of Wands is a fiery card that often represents a young person brimming with passion and energy who wants to move quickly before thinking through all of their options or consequences. In this reading, I think the Page of Wands is more about an energy than a specific person. This Page of Wands energy is restless, a desire to travel or change your circumstances in order to bring enthusiasm and energy back into your life.

The Page of Wands is the kind of person who rushes in, who does too much, who begins a cycle brimming with energy and vitality, and ends the cycle depleted and burnt out. This card indicates your fear that it will be difficult to break this cycle. You are interested in people, in travel, in new ideas. You want to protect your peace but you don't want to withdraw entirely from the world. You want to relieve stress but you don't want to put your head in the sand. I get it. This is the dilemma I'm contemplating every day. How do I remain informed about the world, activated to fight against oppressive forces, but maintain my sanity and not end up having a complete nervous breakdown?

The Page of Wands is fiery. Fire can be great – fire is energy, passion, inspiration, creativity. But it must be tempered with the other elements. Fire moves quickly and recklessly, leaving you feeling worn out or worse. Remember that good work takes time, and that transformation does not happen over night. Be kind to yourself if you slip up and overdo it.

You fear returning to a cycle of pushing too hard and burning out. You hope to regain your strength, energy, and creative motivation. Both your hopes and fears are represented with the page of wands. The best course of action is to take it slow, to divest your attention from the outcome, and take each day as it comes. Productivity is not the only marker of success or value. This may be a season in your life for rest, reflection, personal creation.

Your reading includes both the Page of Cups and the Page of Wands. Both cards indicate creativity and passion. Maybe in this transitional time it would be worth it to try something completely new creatively. Experiment with a new medium. Spend time researching something you're interested in but know nothing about. Learn a new language. Travel somewhere you've never been before. This is a time for investigation and curiosity. As you near the completion of one cycle with your birthday approaching, you are entering a new cycle of adventure. Lean in to the many possibilities that await you if you are able to approach new opportunities with a beginner's mind.

Card 10 - Possible Future Outcome - The Moon

The Moon is a spiritual, intuitive, watery, feminine card, and it's one of my favorites. This is a card of dreaming, symbolism, magic, and fantasy. This is a card about going deep within yourself to excavate your subconscious and your imagination, and returning to reality with new wisdom. The Moon reminds us that there is much happening beneath the surface, and that there are forces at work in our lives that are mysterious and consequential.

The Moon can sometimes feel murky, confusing, or unknowable. But don't let that scare you. The Moon offers an opportunity to get deep into your subconscious, to listen to your intuition and your Highest Self for answers to life's biggest questions.

The Moon wants you to listen to your dreams. It could be worth it to commit to keeping a dream journal in the months leading up to your birthday – first thing in the morning, write down everything you can remember about your dreams. Over time, symbols and themes may begin to emerge that can help you in your transformation. Your subconscious has a message for you. In order to receive the message, patience, meditation, and active listening are required.

The Moon reminds you to go slow and let yourself get weird. Some of your best creative ideas may come to you at night in the coming months – keep a notebook on your bedside and write everything down. Try to quiet your inner critic and don't rush to turn these ideas into anything concrete right away. The Moon wants you to let your imagination and creativity gestate.

You are on exactly the path you need to be on. The coming year will bring plenty of upheaval for the world, but your daily approach will be key to staying sane and healthy. Denial isn't healthy, but balance is. You do not need to be at eleven all the time. Go slow. Get deep. Temper that fiery passion with water – long baths or the ocean. Make time to breathe deeply in fresh air, and put your bare feet on the ground. Notice your surroundings. Count your blessings. Practice gratitude. Prioritize moments of joy. Say no to things you don't want to do. You are under no obligation to subsume yourself for others. The people who love you will understand the boundaries you set. The people who do not understand are doing you a favor by showing you that they are not supportive of your metamorphosis. That's okay. They can fall away for now. Maybe they'll make their way back to you, or maybe they won't, either outcome will be for the best. Prioritize reciprocal relationships and friendships that fill your cup. Seek out pleasure. Indulge your senses. Take a creative risk and try something you've never done before. Nurture your inner child. Treat yourself with kindness and grace. You are on your way to something new, and that journey requires patience, grounding, dreaming, resting... I'm excited to see what you become.

As always, Readers, if you have different interpretations or questions, please leave them in the comments! And if you'd like a reading, email me your question and what name I should use for you in the newsletter at WitchsMarkEli@gmail.com – if you have already emailed me, I'm working through the tarot readings and I promise yours is coming. Thank you for your patience.